Yes Minister?

"It was a decision inherited from the previous government." 

"The previous government made a decision and we can't reverse it." "We can't do anything about it." "No, it isn't possible." "You know we inherited a trillion dollar debt from the previous government." "We have to cut back on spending." "It can't be done." "We made a commitment but...." and "Things are much worse..."

Oh what glorious excuses not to do anything. We have heard these excuses before of course. They are brought out one way or another after every election. 

This time however the new government is in a spot of bother - a big blotch of bother perhaps. They were unusually supportive of some of the measures they now want to ditch. It also means that they are withdrawing support from some of the most vulnerable members of society.

There were the free Rapid Antigen Tests for some. Not everyone has taken advantage of those. Others have obtained the "ten free every three months" because they really did need them. A few have stockpiled them or allowed family members to use them.  A RAT may not be that accurate but it can be a valuable indicator. It might keep one person home and prevent them from infecting twenty or more other people with a more infectious strain who might then infect.... and so it goes on. If just one of those people ends up in hospital then anything saved on taking away the free RAT tests is lost. 

There was the $750 payment for a casual worker who does not get sick leave. This could mean the difference between paying the rent and being homeless. I am not talking about the "little woman earning a bit of pin money in the fancy shop" as someone so nastily put it. I am talking about W... who works a few hours a week in the local supermarket to get the extra she needs to keep a roof over her head and pay for her medication. I am talking about J.... who also works there and is desperate to keep the job because he gives all of it to his widowed mother to help with his two younger siblings, one of whom has been very ill. And yes, there will be plenty of other W...'s and J...'s around as well as those who are employed as "full time casuals". 

Yes, there is work around right now. Not all of it is accessible of course. J... is also doing a university degree. He can't simply move interstate and take up a menial job there - although he considered it when things were really desperate. But if you are not well and you go to work because you can't afford not to go to work then it is possible that you do have Covid or the 'flu or some other nasty illness which you can pass on thereby causing more financial damage to others as well. 

The pandemic has cost everyone a lot. We have lost a way of life we will almost certainly never get back. We keep being told "we need to learn to live with the virus" and that is true. Somehow we have to pay off the debt and pay for the future.

I know very little about economics but a sort of commonsense suggests that spending $750 to save $75,000 or even far more might be a good idea. The previous government was planning on phasing out these payments and schemes and other payments and schemes too. They were monitoring the situation. The new government was supportive of all this, indeed demanding some of these things be done. Now they are in government and they are under pressure to spend billions more on "climate change", "security" and more. And now they are saying they cannot keep the lavish promises they made during the election campaign. I wonder why. It might be a good idea to keep people from getting ill so they can go on working. Yes Minister?